Krakatoa lies along the convergence of the Indian-Australian and Eurasian tectonic plates, a zone of high volcanic and seismic activity. Sometime within the past million years, the volcano built a cone-shaped mountain composed of flows of volcanic rock alternating with layers of cinder and ash. From its base, 1,000 feet (300 metres) below sea level, the cone projected about 6,000 feet (1,800 metres) above the sea. Later (possibly in ad 416), the mountain’s top was destroyed, forming a caldera, or bowl-shaped depression, 4 miles (6 km) across. Portions of the caldera projected above the water as four small islands: Sertung (Verlaten) on the northwest, Lang and Polish Hat on the northeast, and Rakata on the south. Over the years, three new cones were formed, merging into a single island. The highest of the three cones rose to 2,667 feet (813 metres) above sea level.

Krakatoa: 1833 eruptionHulton Archive/Getty ImagesThe only confirmed eruption prior to 1883 was a moderate one in 1680. On May 20, 1883, one of the cones again became active; ash-laden clouds reached a height of 6 miles (10 km), and explosions were heard in Batavia (Jakarta), 100 miles (160 km) away, but by the end of May the activity had died down. It resumed on June 19 and became paroxysmal by August 26. At 1:00 pm of that day the first of a series of increasingly violent explosions occurred, and at 2:00 pm a black cloud of ash rose 17 miles (27 km) above Krakatoa. The climax was reached at 10:00 am on August 27, with tremendous explosions that were heard 2,200 miles (3,500 km) away in Australia and propelled ash to a height of 50 miles (80 km). Pressure waves in the atmosphere were recorded around the Earth. Explosions diminished throughout the day, and by the morning of August 28, the volcano was quiet. Small eruptions continued in the following months and in February 1884.

The discharge of Krakatoa threw into the air nearly 5 cubic miles (21 cubic km) of rock fragments, and large quantities of ash fell over an area of some 300,000 square miles (800,000 square km). Near the volcano, masses of floating pumice were so thick as to halt ships. The surrounding region was plunged into darkness for two and a half days because of ash in the air. The fine dust drifted several times around the Earth, causing spectacular red and orange sunsets throughout the following year.

After the explosion, only a small islet remained in a basin covered by 900 feet (250 metres) of ocean water; its highest point reached about 2,560 feet (780 metres) above the surface. As much as 200 feet (60 metres) of ash and pumice fragments had accumulated on Verlaten and Lang islands and on the remaining southern part of Rakata. Analysis of this material revealed that little of it consisted of debris from the former central cones: the fragments of old rock in it represented less than 10 percent of the volume of the missing part of the island. Most of the material was new magma brought up from the depths of the Earth, most of it distended into pumice or completely blown apart to form ash as the gas it contained expanded. Thus, the former volcanic cones were not blown into the air, as was first believed, but sank out of sight, the top of the volcano collapsing as a large volume of magma was removed from the underlying reservoir.

Krakatoa was apparently uninhabited, and few people died outright from the eruptions. However, the volcano’s collapse triggered a series of tsunamis, or seismic sea waves, recorded as far away as South America and Hawaii. The greatest wave, which reached a height of 120 feet (37 metres) and took some 36,000 lives in nearby coastal towns of Java and Sumatra, occurred just after the climactic explosion. All life on the Krakatoa island group was buried under a thick layer of sterile ash, and plant and animal life did not begin to reestablish itself for five years.

Krakatoa was quiet until December 1927, when a new eruption began on the seafloor along the same line as the previous cones. In early 1928 a rising cone reached sea level, and by 1930 it had become a small island called Anak Krakatau (“Child of Krakatoa”). The volcano has been active sporadically since that time, and the cone has continued to grow to an elevation of about 1,000 feet (300 metres) above the sea.

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